Taking a fresh dig at former Australian batsman and IPL’s Gujarat Lions coach Brad Hodge over his apology to Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli, ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin without taking any names, sarcastically tweeted, “On a lighter note, from this year onwards 30th march will be remembered as world apology day.”

Earlier, the former Australian cricketer alleged that Kohli opted out of the crucial Dharamsala Test match to stay fit for the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL). However, Brad Hodge issued a public apology after knowing fully well that his riches from the IPL could be severely affected for maligning India’s most popular cricket icon.

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Sharing the apology statement on Twitter, Hodge said, “I take this opportunity to apologise to the people of India, cricket fans, the Indian national cricket team and particularly Virat Kohli for my previous comments. My intention was never to harm, criticise or be derogatory toward anyone. They were intended to be light-hearted comments with the utmost respect to the Indian Premier League which I have thoroughly enjoyed through the years. The public and fans have every right to be upset, and the backlash I have received has certainly driven this home.”

However earlier in a statement to an Australian channel Hodge questioned the seriousness of Kohli’s shoulder injury and mentioned, “You would hope as a sportsman that he’s seriously injured. Because if you miss one game of Test match cricket and you’re fronting up the next week for RCB (Royal Challengers Bangalore) versus whoever… you’d be pretty dirty if he didn’t front up to a Test match and try and win a valuable series against Australia.”